Rise and Development of Nationalism in East Asia

Rise and Development of Nationalism in East Asia Introduction Nationalism means the identities that people have, which they view as distinguishing them uniquely as belonging to a particular nation. Thus, it covers one of the forms of patriotism. Several theories can be employed to provide an explanation of the origin of nationalism. The main ones are modernism and primordialist views.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rise and Development of Nationalism in East Asia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Modernism theory considers nationalism as a recent societal process, which demands societal structuring for it to develop. On the other hand, the primordialist â€Å"describes nationalism as a reflection of the ancient and perceived evolutionary behavior of humans to organize themselves into distinct groupings based on the affinity of birth† (Tamir 13). The paper uses the primordialist view. Based on the theory, nationalism may develop based on cultural artifacts de fining people living within a given nation and political-related experiences in a nation among other things. From this point of view, this paper discuses the rise and development of nationalism in East Asia based on historic political related experiences and cultural elements including religion and clothing. Japan and china are used as the main examples in this quest. Rise and Development of Nationalism in China and Japan Cultural elements may act as mechanisms that can help to instill the perception of nationalism among people living within a common geographical area. Theses artifacts may be depicted through clothing, language, and religion. With the onset of westernization, Chinese people encountered a dilemma whether to abandon their own clothing styles that defined their heritage and hence a sense of belonging as Chinese nationals or to adopt the rising western styles of dressing. This dilemma motivates Finnane to wonder what Chinese women deserve to wear for them to retain the symbol of nationalism (99). Given the history of China that is rich in customs, the question is significant since resistance to the degradation of nationalism depicted by dressing style was evident as from 1949 when Mao Zedong declined from wearing black leather shoes and a suit. According to Finnane, the head of state argued, â€Å"we Chinese have our own customs†¦why should we follow others† (99). This resistance was a replication of over half decade debates questioning the capacity of the western influences to impair the dressing codes of the Chinese people. Over that period, alterations of style were incredibly controversial. They attracted hefty public debates particularly when they involved the question of the women dress. The main interrogatives were whether the women dresses need to be long or short, tight or loose, or cover the arms for them to depict Chinese national women.Advertising Looking for essay on asian? Let's see if we can help you! Get your fi rst paper with 15% OFF Learn More During the reign of Mao, the question on what Chinese people wore attracted superficial analysis. However, dressing styles and the type of clothes that were won by Chinese people acted as wonderful mechanisms of differentiating between China and the rest of the nations in the world. In this line of thought, Finnane reinforces, â€Å"For politically correct Chinese people, clothing at that time differentiated the socialist elect from the rest†¦for outsiders, it was the single most obvious feature about contemporary Chinese culture† (100). Clothes were depictive of Chinese culture and hence a symbol of Chinese people. Even though much of the concerns about the alteration of the dressing to have the capacity to erode the culture of the Chinese people concerned what women wore in the ninetieth century, the link between nationalism and the clothing was not only a problem of women: men were also equally worried. This argument i s strengthened by the Mao Zedong’s rejection to wear a suit associated with the western culture. Outside the Chinese context, clothing remains an important symbol of nationalism in other nations in the East Asia. For instance, in India, cladding in ‘sari’ represents a sovereign Indian woman because â€Å"the fertile ground for production of future generations both past and future-were embodied in her,† (Finnane 102). On the other hand, in Japan, a woman dressed in ‘kimono’ profiles an ideal sovereign Japanese woman. From these examples, it sounds essential to infer that the perception of nationalism among people cannot be segregated from the cladding codes acceptable as representing the true national of a given nation because cultural artifacts are depictive of cultural differences among people who are often confined within different national boundaries. Apart from the rise and development of nationalism from the context of dressing style, rel igion is yet another crucial cultural artifact that may help to build the perception of nationalism among different people living in different nations. For instance, in Japan, subscription to Shinto is perhaps an essential way of portraying ones strongly grounded spirit of nationalism. Shinto assumed its shape upon the arrival of Buddhism. This was vital in helping to differentiate the new religion to the indigenous religion in Japan that was the representation of the ‘Japanese’.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rise and Development of Nationalism in East Asia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Okuyama strengthens this point by further asserting, â€Å"Some 100,000 shrines of jinja served by Shinto priests attest to its physical presence nationwide† (94). Shinto defines the religious practices of the indigenous native Japanese to mean ‘the ways of ‘kami’ as opposed to ‘the w ays of Buddha’. Therefore, since the introduction of Buddhism in the 16th century, Shinto practices became definitive of the true Japanese nationalism. However, it is also crucial to note that Japanese people consider traditional customs as defining nationalism in spite of â€Å"whether they are Shinto or not† (Okuyama 97). The question that emerges is- to what extent do Japanese people perceive Shinto as a true representation of nationalism? The response to the above question is perhaps well answered by considering the significance of Shinto shrines among all citizens of Japan including the nobles. In this regard, Okuyama reckons, â€Å"since he became the prime minister, Koizumi Jun’ichiro visited Yasukuni Shrine four times: 13 August 2001, 21 April 2002, 14 January 2003, and 1 January 2004† (106). Nevertheless, even though this may be anticipated to be acceptable within the understanding of the traditional customs of Japanese people, the visits attract ed opposition. Consequently, about seven lawsuits ensued as a result. Nevertheless, Koizumi remained confident that the visits were necessary for a number of reasons. In the first place, the shrines served to portray his nationalism since they formed the places where he renewed vows never to take part in wars. Secondly, â€Å"he visited Yasukuni shrines to express relevance and gratitude to all the war dead despite the fact that these include class A war criminal† (Okuyama 106). Arguably, from this cited reason of why Koizumi visited the shrine, it is questionable whether the shines are the best places to show ones patriotism. However, it is evident that Japanese people have a strong prescription to traditional religious beliefs as the main ways of portraying sincerity in ones commitments to the Japanese people and the nation as a whole. The analysis of Shintoism as one of the theories of development of nationalism in Japan cannot be accomplished without considering the philo sophers’ attempts to ensure the national beliefs were revived and purified.Advertising Looking for essay on asian? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The idea was to enhance the removal of all foreign ideas that were imported from various nations including China and India. The Shintoism restoration movement began in the 18th century with Motoori Noringa playing proactive roles. This campaign gave rise to the state Shinto with the emperor of Japan then claiming to be of Amaterasu decently. A certain representation that tends to link people together creates the spirit of nationalism. According to Wang, the identification may include â€Å"Chinas neo-neo-tribe and â€Å"Japanese shin shin jinrei† (547). To Wang, such a representation can be used to secure a market for a particular product because it has high likelihoods of securing an immense success when a product is marketed based on its capacity to create a sense of nationalism. For instance, Wang argues that the term bobo has the impact of bringing Chinese people together by creating messages of premium value (535). What this argument means is that the spirit of national ism can also be build by the products produced by nations. Therefore, consumption of such products helps to depict that one is truly a patriot of a given nation. Using the Wang’s analogy, the term bobo is related to being a Chinese and belonging to a bobo class. Subsequently, when a product is sold bearing the tag that it is principally made for the bobos, it means that buying this product will not only mean fitting into the bobo class. Besides, it will also depict one as a sovereign citizen of the nation where the bobos live! From a different dimension, nationalism may be built based on the experiences that people go through as a nation. Recollection of such experiences helps to remind one of the history encountered, which is definitive of why one is a nationalist of a given nation. This kind of nationalism is perhaps well exemplified by Japan through her Hiroshima trauma. Painful experiences are crucial reflections of what it takes to be a nationalist since they provide lin ks between different cultures (Caruth 3). Therefore, while Japan may be segregated based on different cultural affiliations, the Hiroshima experiences make Japanese people develop a sense of nationalism, which is critical in helping the nation to employ all strategies possible to ensure that such an experience would never reoccur. Therefore, the Hiroshima experience is one unifying experience that ensures all Japanese are united together amid their demographic differences (Wood 191). Arguably, this is crucial since nationalism is hard to thrive in an environment that is ruled by segregations. Conclusion Therefore, based on the expositions made in the paper, it is enough to declare nationalism a representation of people’s identities. The identities help in building the spirit of patriotism. Cultural elements show people’s identities and political experiences especially the ones that culminated into painful experiences. In this paper, nationalism has been explored throug h consideration of clothing as one of the ways of presentation of people’s cultural artifacts in the Chinese and Japanese contexts. The Hiroshima experience has also been considered as an example of painful experiences that has helped to shape the Japanese view of nationalism. Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History, Baltimore: Johnhopkins University press, 1996. Print. Finnane, Antonia. â€Å"What Should Chinese Women Wear?† Modern China 22.2(1996): 99-131. Print. Okuyama, Michiaki. Historicizing Modern Shinto: A New Tradition of Yasukuni Shrine.  Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2005. Print. Tamir, Yael. Liberal Nationalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Print. Wang, Jing. â€Å"Bourgeois Bohemians in China? Neo-Tribes and the Urban Imaginary.† The China Quarterly 183.3(2005): 532-548. Print. Wood, Nancy. Vectors of Memory: Legacies of Trauma in Postwar Europe. New Jersey, NJ: Berg Publishers, 1999. Print.

Star Charts and Their Many Uses

Star Charts and Their Many Uses The night sky is a fascinating place to explore. Most backyard skygazers begin by stepping out each night and marveling at whatever appears overhead. In time, however, nearly everybody gets the urge to know about what theyre seeing.  Thats where sky charts come in handy.l Theyre like navigational charts, but for exploring the sky. They help observers identify stars and planets in their local skies. A  star chart  or a  stargazing app is one of the most important tools a skygazer can use.  They form the backbone of specialized astronomy apps, desktop programs, and are found in many astronomy books.   Charting the  Sky To get started with star charts, search out a location on  this handy Your sky page. It  lets observers select their location and get a real-time sky chart. The page can create charts for areas around the world, so its also useful for people planning trips who need to know what the skies will contain at their destination. For example, lets say someone lives in or near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They would scroll down to Fort Lauderdale on the list​ and click on it. It will automatically calculate the sky using the latitude and longitude of Fort Lauderdale as well as its time zone. Then, a sky chart will appear. If the background color is blue, it means the chart is showing the daytime sky.  If its a dark background, then the chart shows the night sky.   The beauty of these charts is that a user can click on any object or area in the chart to get a telescope view, a magnified view of that region. It should show any objects that are in that part of the sky. Labels such as NGC XXXX (where XXXX is a number) or Mx where x is also a number indicate deep-sky objects. Theyre probably galaxies or nebulae or star clusters. M numbers are part of Charles Messiers listing of faint fuzzy objects in the sky, and are worth checking out with a telescope. NGC objects are often galaxies. They may be accessible through a telescope, although many are fairly faint and hard to spot. Astronomers over the ages have collaborated on and created different lists of sky objects. The NGC and Messier lists are the best examples and are the most accessible to casual stargazers as well as advanced amateurs. Unless a stargazer is well-equipped to search out faint, dim, and distant objects, the advanced lists really arent of too much importance to backyard-type skygazers. Its best to stick with the really obvious bright objects for good stargazing results.Some of the better stargazing apps also allow a user to connect to a computerized telescope. The user inputs a target and the charting software directs the telescope to focus on the object. Some users then go on to photograph the object (if theyre so equipped), or simply gaze at it through the eyepiece. There is no limit to what a star chart can help an observer do.   The Ever-Changing Sky Its important to remember that the sky does change night after night. Its a slow change, but eventually, dedicated observers will notice that whats overhead in January is not visible in May or June. Constellations and stars that are high in the sky in the summertime are gone by mid-winter.  This happens throughout the year. Also, the sky seen from the northern hemisphere is not necessarily the same as what is seen from the southern hemisphere. There is some overlap, of course, but in general, stars and constellations visible from the northern parts of the planet arent always going to be seen in the south, and vice-versa.The planets slowly move across the sky as they trace their orbits around the Sun. The more distant planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, stay around the same spot in the sky for a long time. The closer planets such as Venus, Mercury, and Mars, appear to move more quickly.   Star Charts and Learning the Sky A good star chart shows not only the brightest stars visible at a given location and time but also gives constellation names and will often contain some easy-to-find deep-sky objects. These are usually such things as the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades star cluster, the Milky Way galaxy that we see from inside, star clusters, and the nearby Andromeda Galaxy. Learning to read a chart enables skygazers to know exactly what theyre looking at, and leads them to explore for more celestial goodies.  Ã‚   Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen.

What is the current social, economic and political status of women in Research Paper

What is the current social, economic and political status of women in Saudi Arabia What are the obstacles to true reform of womens rights in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example This essay discusses the social, economic, and political status of women in Saudi Arabia today. Women in Saudi Arabia are seriously underrepresented in important positions in both the private and public sectors. Possibly most evident, women experience discrimination in personal-status laws, which focus on features of family life such as marriage, inheritance, and child custody. Most Saudi laws proclaim that the husband is the head of the family, authorize the husband to control the decision of his wife about getting a paid job, and in certain instances openly instruct the wife to submit to her husband.ii However, major attempts have been initiated to advance women’s status over the recent years. Women have become more involved in business, education, and public life all over Saudi Arabia. The specific issues that have been of utmost concern to women in Saudi Arabia today relate to employment opportunities, access to health care and education, political rights, and legal protection. These issues have been the focus of almost all women and women’s movement in the region.iii For decades Saudi women have fought for equal opportunities. Today, they fight for their right to leave their houses without the supervision of a male kin and their right to work. The authority of the male relative guarantees the lack of freedom of Saudi women. A reform in women’s legal status is certainly the major change concerning women’s status in Saudi Arabia. The status of women is continuously advancing and in numerous universities the population of female students continuously grows. There are still a small number of women involved in paid employment, but those who are part of the labor force occupy very important positions and are willing and prepared to stand up for their careers, a characteristic highly valued by private organizations.iv Women are becoming more visible in new industries wherein they are now permitted to work; yet, poverty, homelessness, and

E-law questions part 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

E-law questions part 1 - Essay Example Moreover, US lawyers use technology in litigation, e-discovery, and e filing in courtrooms (American Bar Association 2012). They also use various hardware and software that include videoconferencing technology to take depositions and testimonies and to deliver professional legal education. On the other hand, videoconferencing technology applies in Australian courts in taking depositions and testimonies from witnesses and is accessible to lawyers in the urban areas. Indeed, there is little evidence of technology use by Australian lawyers in the rural and remote areas. Despite its significant benefits, IT and specifically videoconferencing technology is not popular with Australian lawyers (Kennedy &Winn, n.y). Internationalization has a positive impact on tax revenue charged by governments on businesses. Indeed, an increase in the internationalization indicator leads to a subsequent increase in tax revenue. Additionally, internationalization undermines the government’s potential to tax business income hence leading to more business profits. Moreover, it increases a business urge to relocate abroad and enhances the need for a better location with regard to infrastructure that promotes business activities. Indeed, it has adverse effects where a business finally relocates to another country. Globalization has divergent impact on business. It promotes the movement of goods across borders thus enhancing international trade. It leads to integrated customer service and the emergence of global business brand. It enables businesspersons to purchase products from convenient markets, selling of products in markets with higher profits, and outsourcing of raw materials. Additionally, globalization leads to high profit margins for companies that are able to source cheap raw materials and labor force from other countries. This equally leads to low earning potential for employees. Globalization also affects business management where companies can hire managers

Bond and Curve Essay Example for Free

Bond and Curve Essay The first tool that we want to use to look at news, news for fixed income. So what we’ll do is we’ll navigate down to the bottom of the menu, and we’ll click on 14 NBOND for bond news. Clicking that, it’ll load a very familiar page for you. This is the news categories. And you’ll notice on the top left in the toolbar it says bonds. So now we have our top bond news. This isn’t just our top bond news, but also we can choose popular news, and we can also see all news for bonds. You can customize the type of fixed income news by either clicking on customize and choosing from there, or if you click new search you can also type in additional fixed income topics like credit markets, municipal bonds, additional categories that I already have in my particular monitor here. Now for the next screen that we would like to look at is economic calendar. This is another screen that you should be familiar with already from the other videos, but let’s type in ECO for economic calendar. And from here, specifically for fixed income, we can focus on releases within the top left menu. If we click the economic releases and go down to government auctions, this is going to bring up the auctions for the United States in particular. You can change the country. If you want to put in Germany, you can type in Germany. And notice if we go back to the United States, all the current releases are in white and all the future releases are going to be in amber, just like before. If you want to see the results of those, you can again click into that release and you can see that data in there as well the news stories listed below. Now for an overview of the global fixed income markets, we can type WB for world bond markets, and then hit the go key. Notice that we have our countries on the left hand side, and across from those we have columns for information like price, the change in price, yield, change in yield, a charge of the yield. And then on the right side, we have a relative value performance of how do we look – how is the yield now versus the average over a period? In this case, we’re comparing the yield of now in blue versus the average, which is in three months. You can change that easily by clicking one week, for example, and now you can see if the yield is wider or tighter than the average that you specified on the top right. In addition, you can change the maturity of the bonds. If you want to look at five years, change it to five years and that’ll update – that’ll update accordingly. It’ll show you the individual securities here. If you want to see any additional information from those, you can actually click on the name of the country, and that’ll take you into a deeper level menu where now you can see the different tenors of that curve. You can see the curve spreads, butterflies, additional information there that you can explore. Let’s hit the menu key. We also have two additional tabs. If you click on spreads, that’ll give you spreads relative to the country you have selected. If you want to see spreads relative to Italy, we can choose Italy from the list. And now it’s giving you the spread of Italy versus the United States in blue. Additionally, you have the spread chart and the historical comparison available just like in the bonds tab. Lastly, we have the curves tab. And what that’s doing is it’s letting you compare all these countries with a side by side of each point on that curve so you can get a quick and real-time update of those curves and how they’re moving. Now WB is a monitor with real-time information that rates (ph) currently trading in the market. For an overview of bond yield forecasts, we can look at BYFC and hit go. Now BYFC will give you bond yield forecasts for multiple points on the curve, as well as three-month benchmark rates, as well as tenor spreads that you can specify up on the top right. You can narrow down the countries or focus on the countries based on your region on the top. And going back to let’s say the United States, BYFC has six quarters worth of forecasts. And these forecasts are contributed to us by economists and market researchers on a monthly basis by our Bloomberg monthly news surveys. When you click into the particular bond tenor, it’ll mention who forecasts, as well as the statistical information that corresponds with those surveys and when they were received. For a real-time monitor of benchmark rates, you can use BTMM. BTMM is our treasury and money markets monitor. This can be specified by country. You can change your country on the top left and then navigate based on the region and choose the country directly from there. Now we have rates from – deposit rates, all of our benchmark rates. It also includes treasury rates on the left side, as well as even the gold spot rate and equity index futures. This is a great way for market players and for you to get a pulse in real time what the rates are as they change in the market. To conduct curve comparison, to look at a curve for a particular country, to look at their CDS curve, rate curve, we can look at all those by typing CRVFgo for curve finder. Within the curve finder, along the top the tabs will show you what types of curves we have available. Within those, we can navigate by country. We can also look on the far side and see based on those countries what we have available. Now in our example, let’s search for the A US corporate curve. If we go to credit and then we look at industrial, we can then select the A. And we wanted to see this in US dollars, so we can click on US industrials A BVAL curve. Now that we have selected that curve, we can go to the bottom right and click show selected curves. Now we can see the curve for the US industrial A curve where we have the one-year through 30-year rate. These are the yields of the curve, and we also have some additional curves on the far right that I’ve added in the past. But right now we’re only seeing the industrial A curve. We have the yields down here on the bottom, and if we want to see this as of a historical date, then we can see how did that curve look one week ago. If we click on the one W at the top, now we can see the current curve versus the curve of one week ago, and then the spread between those two. If we want to enter a custom date instead, we can enter those dates here by clicking, and then we can put in the dates on the top. Now if we want to specify a custom date, we can go to the more tab. Then once we select, we can drop the custom date and then enter, let’s say, March 9, 2012. When we click update, now our curve will show March 9, 2012, along with the other dates there. If we want to add another curve and see how does this industrial curve compare to, maybe we could use the US swap curve here, we can just check that curve. And now you’ll see the other curve is in a different color and you can see them charted against each other. You can always unselect – you can always remove those curves as you like. If you want to add a curve that’s specific, you can click to browse, and then use that same menu and navigation to go to your next curve. The last thing I want to show you with the curve is to click menu to go back. And we can see these data points numerically in a table if we scroll our mouse or hit the page forward key on our keyboard, which is the green key next to our menu key that you used before. Now you can see for each curve what that historical date was in the table. All the applications we’ve discussed today have all been market monitors and broad-level overview. Now let’s move into actually finding a screen for securities. Then we’ll close with looking at individual security applications. Now, to start, the easiest application that we have to do a security find is to actually use SECF, go. SECF is our security finder. And what that allows you to do is to browse Bloomberg’s universe of securities and statistics. Now the security finder is really in two sections. The top is our control area, which allows you to look at the individual tabs by asset class, as well as the search tool at the very top left. The second half is really the output section, the section that’s going to show you the results in a table, and then it’ll let you search by relevancy. Now let’s say that we have an example where we want to search for a bond from IBM. We can click on 32FI, and then notice that we have always additional buttons across the bottom. Now we have this for corporates, but in addition, if you happen to look for bond futures, interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, loans, those are available there too. For IBM, we’ll stay on corporate. And then in the issuer name, we can type in IBM for International Business Machines. Alternatively, you could also type in IBM as the ticker since that’s the actual corporate ticker for IBM. Here we can actually look through the list and search what coupon we were looking for. We can do that, or we can actually narrow it out and type in 7.5 and – if that’s the coupon we’re looking for – and then it’ll show it right there. It’ll give us brief statistics in that list. And then when you’re ready to actually load that security for analysis, then you can actually click on that security and it’ll launch that for you. Now if you would rather use the search box instead of narrowing it down through these filters, you can clear that from the list. And then in the top where it says search, you can type IBM. We were looking at the 7.5 percent coupon. When we hit go, then again it’ll show us our result here. If you wish to do a more sophisticated search, you can definitely do that within Bloomberg. In order to do that search, you would type SRCH and then hit go. Within SRCH, you can do an advanced search for corporates and government bonds. To do so, start out with clicking on the top red – top right red advanced search button. Now you’ll see your difference choices on the left for your filtering. If you wish to specify an issue date or a maturity date, you can go into issuance information 2, click there, and then you can enter that information here. Additionally, covenants. You can definitely select any one of these check boxes. You can just definitely notice these gray tabs as you scroll across the top. This is where you’re going to get your additional information. You can narrow it down by credit ratings and choose. Let’s say you want to use SP ratings and you want to include only investment grade in your search. Now you can either individually select, or you can click investment grade and then click update. You can also – if you want to specify a particular range of yields or a particular price range, you can click 7, inventory and analytical data. And then down here in the middle you can specify your prices or your yields. We’ll make our search very broad and we’ll put in 1 to 10 percent, and then click update. This is – this is not the exhaustive list. You can click any one of these. And you’ll notice that we also again have additional tabs here if you want to sort by sector. The list goes on. Now let’s click 1 go. The way to see your search results is to click 1, go to search. Notice that we have over 30,000 results. We’ll only see 5,000 of those results in this screen. In addition, if you were to export this to Excel, which you can definitely do, that will also be limited to a maximum of 5,000 results, just as – as a note for that. You can also save this search. If this is a search that you need to run again, then you can go to options, save search, and then you can come back to this search in the future and rerun it. And in the future, you may have – you’ll have the opportunity to have those different results. Now let’s – let’s look at screens that pertain to individual securities. Before we were looking at a bond with a 7.5 percent coupon from IBM. We can type IBM at the top, and then 7.5. Notice that our auto complete helps find that security. So you can use SECF that we discussed before, or you can use auto complete to type in your security if you have the – the information here, like we do. You can that to select your security, or you can also type it in as your CUSIP (ph) or other identifier there and it’ll help find it for you. We’ll click it from that list, and that automatically loads the security for us. You’ll notice that we have this menu of applications that we can run. And we won’t have time to discuss these today, but definitely explore these for your analytics for relative value hedging, things that you can look forward to in the future. The particular screen that we’re looking for right now is the description page. So click on 16 DES on the top right. Now notice on the description page we have the core information, including issuer, the type of issuer it is, the sector that they’re in. We have the coupon – coupon frequency, core information about that security. On the left side, we have navigation. We can look at information such as covenants. We can look at bond ratings. If you want to see historical bond ratings for this issuer, then you can actually click on the expansion tabs to see those right in the screen. In addition to that, you can also see if there’s multiple coupons or if there’s a schedule, if it’s callable or puttable, things like that. You can click into schedules. It’s grayed out if it’s not available. In addition to the information that we have in the bond description, we also have a tab for issuer-level information. Let’s click on 22 issuer description. And particularly, we can look at 4 debt summary to look at their distribution. Now here we have nice charts and breakdowns, but note that in these individual tabs on the left we can also launch the individual applications directly by clicking on them. If we expand this window, now we can see the full application for our debt distribution. And here we can see IBM, and then we can also see the companies that are part of that business where we can see the issuer and subsidiaries. As we scroll down, we can see that entire list. One additional note is that you can also group your debt distribution by whether it’s just the issuer – only obligations of the current issuer. You can narrow down that debt based on its group. Let’s close that. Notice that we have more than just the debt distribution. We also have major creditors who own that bond, credit health as in financial ratios to give you a better perspective on not just that particular issue, but also that issuer. Now, to move from core information – core descriptive information to actual analytics to run yield analysis on this particular security, we can type YA and hit go for yield analysis. On this page, you can see that we have additional tabs, one for yield and spread. We can then move to pricing to see descriptive information. But let’s stay on the yield and spread tab just for a moment. The yield and spread analysis screen will let you price a fixed income security, calculate risk, hedge amounts, and see market data. You can input custom spreads. So in this case it’s the spread to bench, and it’ll reprice your security based on your input. So here we put a spread to bench of 20 basis points and it recalculated our price and yield. In addition, we can change how we calculate our yield if it’s yield to worse (ph), or yield to maturity, or yield to a custom date. We can also enter in historical dates in our historical settle (ph), and you just type that in here. We have our spreads. You won’t need to know – if you’re not familiar with these types of spreads, if you hover your mouse over them, it’ll give you a brief description of what those are. On the right side, we have our risk measures, risk and convexity. We have our risk hedge. These are against the benchmark that you select here. And then also, it calculates our accrued interest and all-in price. We can move across the tabs along the top, and now we can pricing. Pricing based on what’s available on the market from the trace reporting, from our runs messages, things like that, descriptive information or snapshots from what we had on the description page that we looked at just prior to this screen. We have relative value graphs to see not just what it is today, but how that’s changed over time. And then custom gives you full customization of what type of information you want to see on each page. You can click into any one of these tabs to then launch that individual analysis within that section of the screen. If you like this custom tab or any of these tabs, you can change the order by dropping it across, and then it’ll set that way for you going forward. The final screen we’d like to discuss today is a credit monitor that you can type GCDS. Notice again we used auto complete. We can select it here or hit go. And what GCDS does is it shows you credit default swap spreads based on the sectors that you choose.gcds You can set it by region. You can import a portfolio or – based on an equity index, a launch pad monitor. It gives you a very wide range of sources to pull that from, as well as the full customization of what spreads you wish to see. In my setup here, we can look at it by region. We have it set up for the Americas, although we can set it for global. Here I have listed for banks, but we can choose by any sector listed in this drop menu. We can choose to sort out whether we want to see investment grade or high yield. And then we can choose which tenor of the CDS curve we wish to view. And lastly, we can choose which pricing source we want to narrow that down by. We can choose CMA New York, for example, or we can also use a Bloomberg composite price here, which is what we’ll use going forward here. Now, on the right-hand column are all securities or all the issuers where we have CDS pricing based on our selections up here. If we choose to check off the box, then it’ll add that – that name to that chart, and you’ll notice it’s added that in the legend if it’s available. We also can see the average spread for all 35, or we can do – we can click on average of selected ancd then see that charted. So we can say which names are above the average, which names are below the average. To conclude that example, notice that our highest spread on the chart is currently Morgan Stanley. Notice that on the legend it highlights the name. That is currently trading above the average, which is 201. Notice that if I put my cursor on the actual – the average of selected, then it also highlights which line that is. The average is at 201. So GCS is a great tool to not just narrow out the individual names that you want to chart on a graph, but also let’s you easily compare those not just against each other but also against as a group average. And just as a note, if you never get your mouse to the very top right hand corner, you can see that there’s an icon with a green arrow. You can click on this green arrow and drag that into Excel, and that’ll move the information from the screen into Excel for you. This concludes are session on fixed income essentials. If you need any future assistance, please feel free to hit the help key twice for immediate assistance from our 24/7 global help desk.

What Is An American Essay -- Definition Essys Expository Papers

Since this great country was first established many intuitive minds have tried to answer the question; "What is an American". This country is full of individuals of many backgrounds, and diversities and each person has a different opinion on this question. In my opinion, an American is someone who values freedom and equality and pursues the "American dream." Every American exercises these rights and these are great adjectives to describe our country. Each of the seven readings, and the one image I compiled help mold this broader definition into a more precise description of an American. Robert Creeley, an influential American writer and poet, lived the ideal American dream. He wrote about his struggles early in his life. He lost his father at an early age and went away to school at the age of fourteen. He overcame all adversity to work hard for a living and, in return, live the American dream. He also wrote that the United States is a place where all people want to go because it offers a chance at renewal and making their lives better (Creeley). This, in its essence, is the American Dream; A happy and successful life to which all may aspire. My image represents this through the picture of the big house and the expensive car. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of America, in a letter to John Adams, wrote about the benefits of America. He wrote about people coming to America and pursuing any profession they wanted and they were protected by the law (Jefferson). At that time this was the American dream; hard work could lead to a better life. This led to having enough earnings to support a family and it transformed into something totally different. Henry James, a European, around the same time criticized this id... ...ction. Works Cited Adams, John. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Alvarez, Julia. The Woman I Kept to Myself. Algonquin Books, 2004. Creely, Robert. The Collected Essays of Robert Creely. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. Hughes, Langston. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Vintage, 1995. James, Henry. Works of Henry James. Including The Portrait of a Lady, The Turn of the Screw, The Ambassadors, The Bostonians, The Europeans, The Wings of the Dove. MobileReference, 2009. Mayers, Florence. A Russian ABC: Featuring Masterpieces from the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (Mayers, Florence Cassen. ABC.). ABRAMS, 1992. Nye, Naomi. Fuel: Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye. BOA Editions Ltd., 1998.

Rhetorical Analysis of “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Essay

Being proud of one’s culture and language is often times lost when immigrating to a new country. Although criticized and attacked for her culture, Gloria Anzaldua describes in â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue† that she refuses to let others force her to reject her culture for the sake of belonging and informs Americans and Latinos attempting to suppress Chicano culture specifically that she will persevere through the hardship to keep her identity alive and thriving. Anzaldua calls her readers to understand that the Chicano language and heritage should be recognized and that they be identified as a distinct people; that they are more than nothing. Anzaldua begins with engaging the reader by providing a personal experience of when she was sent to the corner of the classroom for â€Å"talking back† to her teacher when her intention was just to tell the teacher how to pronounce her name (374). In her second section â€Å"Overcoming the Tradition of Silence† (37 4), Anzaldua adds internal incite on the culture of the Chicano and the barriers of her language, supporting her credibility and supporting ethos with another personal account. She displays these different scenarios from her point of view, showing her audience what it feels like to live through these situations as a Chicano. Switching back and forth from English to Spanish, Anzaldua cleverly uses this form of diction to establish ethos with the reader. She puts the reader somewhat in her shoes when growing up in America, not knowing every English word she was read or heard. It makes the reader feel rather awkward or embarrassed for not knowing what the Spanish words mean. Another form of ethos is present when she states, â€Å"If you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language† (378). Anzaldua uses ethos again to demonstrate that what people value highly, their language, is what she values sincerely, claiming â€Å"I am my language† (378). Anzaldua establishes logos by enlightening us as to why Chicano Spanish is different from Standard Spanish, explaining that the significant differences in the Spanish Chicanos speak developed after 250 years of Spanish/Anglo  colonization (376). She again uses logic in determining that even though by the end of this century Spanish speakers will embody the largest minority group in the U.S, English will be the mother tongue of Chicanos and Latinos due to the fierce influence of the degradation of the use of Spanish (378). Works Cited Anzaldua, Gloria. â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue† From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Stuart Green and April Lidinsky. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2012. 322-36. Print. Documentation Statement: I received no help on this assignment.

James Loewen

To describe this work overall is rather a monumental task because there aren’t many other books out there like this one.   Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen takes on really two tasks.   One is to question and answer the concept of why students dislike history classes.   The second is to prove the idea that much of what students learn in American history classes is wrong and that there are many omissions.   The author can be described as a teacher who challenges the role of revisionist history in American schools. He says that much of American history alienates children of color by ignoring the fact that many of the people who contributed greatly to this country were indeed, non-white.   Because of the nature of textbooks in American high schools, much of college history classes are taken up â€Å"fixing† the subject matter that students have learned in high school history classes. Being a college history professor, he asserts this with confidence.   Loewen does not deny the importance of knowing history for one minute, but he does question what we know.   Loewen is a university professor of history at the University of Vermont, and his study in preparation for writing this book consisted of studying twelve textbooks covering a range in American history.   He set about to â€Å"analyze the process of textbook creation and adoption to explain what causes textbooks to be as bad as they are† and the effects of using them. So, why is history boring according to Loewen?   History is made up of nothing but stories which should not be boring, but textbook companies have left out anything that â€Å"might reflect badly upon our national character† (Loewen).   As Loewen says, there is no sense of drama in history taught in schools, and there is every sense that things will work out in the end.   This alone makes history boring.   It is also boring because â€Å"textbooks almost never use the present to illuminate the past† (Loewen).   Therefore, students have a difficult time understanding the relevance to their daily lives. History is portrayed as a â€Å"morality play,† in which the touchy areas are never taught or discussed.   Publishers tend not to acknowledge problems of today or use the past to shed some light.   They also never speak of the factors that contributed to problems; rather a â€Å"blame the victim† approach is used.   As Loewen says, â€Å"While there is nothing wrong with optimism, it does become something of a burden for students of color, children of working class parents, girls who notice an absence of women who made history, or any group that has not already been outstandingly successful† (Loewen).   This â€Å"burden† turns students off to history because it does not accurately address any of these things nor does it tell the full stories. Textbooks ignore many historical realities for a variety of reasons.   The biggest reason is that publishers believe that students must develop a sense of nationalism or patriotism.   To acknowledge troubling areas in our nation’s history is to run the risk that patriotism will not be developed.   A â€Å"happy† view of history leads Americans to believe that everything is okay, so students are not troubled.   This view of history embraces the American idea of individualism rather than looking at the many factors that affected lack of equal opportunity.   Textbooks make us believe that equal opportunity was and is an option for all. As for other reasons, Loewen does a thorough job pointing these out.   Facts are presented â€Å"as one damn thing after another† (Loewen).   Books â€Å"suppress causation† (Loewen).   In fact, many of the facts included are flat out wrong and many of the books are clones of each other, which means the facts are wrong over and over again.   They rarely include primary source documents, which Loewen compares to students taking a course in poetry without reading a poem.   Plus the books are just so darn big that students hate carrying them and reading them. In his Table of Contents he discusses all the false information or omissions based on his study of textbooks, such as the study of Christopher Columbus, Thanksgiving, Native Americans, the invisibility of racism, the absence of social class, the disappearance of the recent past, and the myth of progress to name a few.   These chapters contain much needed information about the true stories. The results of his study conclude that students are bored with or alienated from history or both.   They are also not able to use the past in order to think about the future.   He proposes this book partly in order to discuss how to assess all the various sources of knowledge about history and to help teachers think about how to learn history more accurately. As he ponders the idea of â€Å"truth† in revisionist history in every chapter, I will use one chapter as an example.   In the chapter entitled hero Making Heroes, examples are given of how textbooks leave important ideas or at least controversial ones out of the books.   For example, Loewen tells us that Helen Keller was a radical socialist.   Books leave out all mention of Woodrow Wilson’s racism and the fact that there was a new surge of racial violence in this country after his presidency. And last but not least, discussion of Christopher Columbus has been totally slanted.   He took land from the Native Americans and engaged in slave trade or forced labor.   He alone destroyed entire nations of Native Americans.   Only six of twelve textbooks even mentioned the idea of forced labor at all.   And yet, most of what is taught does none of these things. Loewen concludes with the statement that â€Å"students will start learning history when they see the point of doing so, when it seems interesting and important to them, and when they believe history might relate to their lives and futures† (Loewen). I believe the author does accomplish his goals.   He absolutely adequately sums up why students hate history.   The study of history seems all about facts and dates that have no relation to each other or to our lives.   History books are chock full of names and dates but not material that challenges the student to really think about and analyze history.   These facts are expected to be taken at face value and not to be questioned.   Any controversy is left out of books.   Students need to be taught history in a more meaningful way so that they can use the past to illuminate the future or even the future to illuminate the past. To me, understanding is the only reason to teach anything, not rote memorization of facts that aren’t even true.   I understand that standardized testing puts a lot of pressure on history teachers, but American schools should at least be able to find a way to present both sides of issues.   Students could truly be more interested in history that way.   Teaching only the wonderful qualities in American history and ignoring the disturbing parts is not a way to push students to become leaders of tomorrow.   If one truly wants to fix problems, one must first identify what the problems are.   For example, in terms of equal opportunity, it is important for students to realize that phrase was always a dream propagated by white people. People of color in this country have never had even a remote chance to thrive the way white people have.   Therefore, current practices like affirmative action might not seem so terrible if they understand the history all the way down the line.   There has always been affirmative action; it was just only for white people.   Now that we give it a name and make it policy to benefit nonwhite people, society is up in arms.   Teaching about the historical laws and rules that made it impossible to receive a fair chance if one was non-white is at least a step in the right direction.   Maybe that would help illuminate the present by using the past.   It would also highlight high level skills like synthesis and critical thinking. I detest the idea of revisionist history.   I understand that there are places where a thorough understanding is just not possible.   For example, teaching about our genocide of the Native Americans to elementary students is not a good idea.   However, we can teach about such things from primary source documents.   Falsities do not have to be taught.   We certainly do not need to reinforce the idea that Indians have all vanished or that they live in teepees still.   If all else fails, leave the study of these people or events out of history classes where students are too young to understand the ramifications. Loewen would not propose this as it would be yet another omission.   Loewen’s book should be required reading for any person planning on teaching anything.   Loewen gives a very thorough account of the many inaccuracies and omissions that are currently taught.   A lot of people have not had enough history after high school to even realize that this is the case or to put all the information together, to synthesize it in such a way that the light bulb finally comes on. And while it is much easier to take the safe route, that one is rarely the best.   In this culture we need more critical thinkers, not more people who can memorize facts.   In this information age, it is more crucial than ever to teach others how to think, not what to think.   Any fact we will ever need is at our fingertips on the Internet.   What we aren’t taught is how to analyze and evaluate or how to come to a conclusion based on thorough understanding of both sides (informed decisions).   In addition, teaching the truth of some of these historical inaccuracies might go a long way in helping racial inequities or other avenues where we â€Å"blame the victim† in our culture.   Certainly we would change our definition of America, but we might be more apt to become part of the solution. Works Cited Loewen, James, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Simon and Schuster, 1995.

WWII and the homefront essays

WWII and the homefront essays Civil Defense and Race Relations in World War Two Civil defense and race relations were two current topics during World War Two. There was a plethora of racism throughout the country at this time. At the same time because of the possible threat of bombings by Hitlers Luftwaffe or his new age V-rockets there was the issue of civil defense. Certain races during the Second World War discriminated against. One of the races that faced this discrimination was the Japanese-Americans. The Japanese-Americans had done nothing wrong, but the biased views of many Americans of European heritage caused this terrible discrimination. Many Americans saw the Japanese-Americans as a threat to their national security. Most of the Japanese-Americans were United States born citizens. Even though the Japanese-Americans were discriminated against over 8,000 young Japanese-Americans were eventually drafted into service by the end of the war. Many Japanese-Americans were put into internment camps. These camps had many striking resemblances to the German concentration camps. There were camps in six states along the west coast. The Japanese-Americans were rounded up, especially along the west coast and put into these camps. These people had already been discriminated against before the war but with the attack on Pearl Harbor bitterness arose in America. The camps were usually old army tents set up in the desert. The people were fed little and held under strict watch. In early 1942 President Roosevelt gave into the military leaders complaints and gave the okay to round up the Japanese Americans and place them in the camps. These Americans were forced to sell there houses in a very short period of time. They usually had to sell their homes a very low price in order to sell them before they were put into the camps. Many Japanese-American business men were also forced to sell their business at very low prices to avoid the being seized by ...

6 Life Tips For Bloggers To Boost Their Personal Productivity

6 Life Tips For Bloggers To Boost Their Personal Productivity According to  s Better Blogger survey, their audiences biggest challenges are: 22% say it’s finding time to create content. 20% say it’s planning content. 16% say it’s creating really good content. 11% say it’s creating consistent content. 6% say it’s meeting blogging goals. 6% say it’s proving blogging success. 4% say it’s using new content formats. 4% say it’s relying on team members to get things done. It is interesting to note here that 7  out of the above  8 primary  challenges are things that can be achieved if consistently high personal productivity is introduced in the mix. Now I know its difficult to be productive all the time. Its not a switch that can wishfully be toggled on or off. As a blogger myself, these are problems that even I face and know how annoying they can get when they regularly stop me from achieving my goals. But I cant afford to give up and neither can you. Fortunately, science and professional experience over the year has done us a solid by coming up with proven productivity tips that can help any person become more efficient and consistent at their work. All it requires is some self control and discipline. With that in mind, here is a countdown to six  of the best life tips that will boost your personal productivity (oh, and Ive included some bonus life tips with each point so check them out, too)! 6 Life Tips That Will Help Every #Blogger Boost Their Personal #Productivity via @SujanDeswal6. Drop That Smartphone, Now It's interesting to know that director Christopher Nolan, who has helmed movies like Inception, Interstellar, and the Dark Knight Trilogy, does not own a smartphone because he feels that it distracts him. And research agrees with him. The smartphone stress emanates from the need to constantly check your phone for any notifications or messages that people might send you. The reason for such behavior is a social phenomena called the fear of missing out (FOMO). We fear that we might lose out on so many important social happenings and events and the company of friends around us. Since a smartphone  is the quickest way to get access to such information, we spend time obsessively checking every â€Å"bleep† or â€Å"tin tin†,  with  social media fueling the angst even more. It takes your mind 64 seconds to return to work after distractions. #bloggingProfessor Larry Rosen, from California State University, talks about a small experiment  he conducted  on this obsessiveness. He asked 100 of his students to install a custom app which would check how many times they unlocked their phones and the usage statistics, during their final exam week. What he found was  quite astonishing. Students unlocked the phone, on an average, 60 times a day for a total of 200 minutes. Which roughly translates to 3.3 minutes usage for three times an hour every day. Just enough time to check their social media (this, when they should be studying for the final exam). In fact, after checking an email, it takes your mind 64 seconds to get back to whatever it is you were doing earlier. Now since we’re all different, I’m not going to share generic pointers to help you not check your phone constantly. Instead I’ll share tactics that have worked for me and it would be swell if you shared some of yours in the comments, too. Here they are: I've uninstalled all social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. I now only have WhatsApp (with all notification sounds and popups disabled). I've made it a rule to never use my phone while driving. Luckily, in the last four months, I’ve just received two calls that actually deserved my immediate attention. When I’m working, I keep my phone on vibration mode (I guess we all do). I go on ‘no smartphone check’ marathons where I don’t check my phone for an hour, three to four times a day (this has helped me the most). I don’t keep my phone in my hands or at the desk. It’s always where I can't see it, which is mostly my pocket or my backpack. Takeaway: Your smartphones are making you more stressed and hence, more incompetent at your job. Practice rigorous discipline to beat this addiction. Bonus life tip:  Play more video games because they improve reflexes, reasoning, problem solving, memory, multi-tasking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and a lot more. 5. Save Time By Automating Routine Tasks Tim Ferris, author of the highly successful blog fourhourworkweek.com  deems automation as one of the pillars of his ground-breaking book The 4-Hour WorkWeek. In it, he describes how his preferred  automation function is fulfilled by outsourcing. He outsources all non-work tasks to his virtual assistants who then get them done while Tim can concentrate on major work-related tasks. Automate or outsource repetitive tasks to improve your #PersonalProductivity.To add to the above- Randall Munroe, mathematician and creator of the webcomic XKCD- drew a cartoon which details how much time would you save if you learned how to automate routine work: So to lend some perspective from a blogger's point of view, find tools and processes that  enable automatic  completion of repetitive tasks so that you can get the time to concentrate on your actual work objectives: Send bulk emails with  GetResponse. Schedule content, blog posts, and social media  with . Automatically share updates and blogs with Buffer  and . Come up with ideas and topics in the beginning of every month with HubSpot Topic Generator  (use this along with 's Headline Analyzer to review and create better  headlines). Use Keyboard shortcuts. Brainscape, a  Web and Mobile  study platform, did an interesting calculation and found that a person  can save almost 8 complete days in an year if they didn't  have to switch one hand between a keyboard and a mouse. Create Google Alerts around topics that you care about  so that you're automatically notified about any new updates related to them. Personally, I  use Google Alerts to keep track of places where I've just been mentioned. I can then immediately head over to that community/comment/post and engage with the audience. Like above, there are hundreds of tools that you can use to automate boring grunt work. Not only will this save time, it will help you stay productive by keeping your mind free of the clutter. In fact, you can even save up to 10+ hours a week if such menial tasks were off your hands. Takeaway: Wherever possible, save time by using applications to automate repetitive tasks. Bonus Life Tip: Listening to music can make boring tasks enjoyable and increase on-task concentration. 4. Visualizing Success Is Actually Counterproductive We’ve all done it because we borrow some of that future "after completion of task satisfaction", for right now. This positive feeling in turn motivates us more to actually get the job done. However, science says otherwise. In their study â€Å"The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies†, researchers Oettingen and Mayer ran a group of tests around four scenarios to examine the effects of fantasizing a positive outcome on participants. They write: As positive expectations reflect past successes, they signal that investment in the future will pay off. Positive fantasies, to the contrary, lead people to mentally enjoy the desired future in the here and now, and thus curb investment and future success. This behavior stems psychologically from self-efficacy which refers to your  trust in yourself  capability to reach your  goal. So what's happening? Basically once you’ve visualized that next blog post or that next profitable venture, your mind experiences some of that satisfaction and then tells your body to cool down. Your mental state becomes lethargic (of the goal having been achieved) as opposed to vigilant (of the goal has yet to be achieved). In fact, sharing your goals with your friends makes it even  likelier that you’re going to give up- a  research study involving college students found that the participants’ commitment to complete goals wavered once they publicly shared it with their colleagues.   This happens because sharing goals triggers a â€Å"premature sense of of completeness†. Do you share your personal #blogging goals? Research says it's time to stop.'So now onwards the name of the game is to just â€Å"zip it†: Takeaway: Keep your goals to yourself. Expect a positive outcome but don’t visualize or fantasize about it. Actually make it happen. Bonus life tip: Eye strain? Flex every muscle in your face and then hold. Relax. Repeat for a few more minutes. This muscle relaxation technique is called ‘Tense and Release’. 3.  Don’t Stress Over 'Originality' The one problem that writers face regularly is how to come up with original hard hitting ideas and topics that will excite or astonish their users. Those who effortlessly get original ideas regularly are considered to be lucky or having a gift, but this could not be further than the truth. Bloggers who get new ideas don’t just get them because they’re lucky but because they are experienced. Ideas and news have surrounded us left and right, and these bloggers  just know how to connect different dots to make a completely new idea. Remember- nothing is original. In his critically acclaimed book ‘Steal Like An Artist’, author Austin Kleon opines that: What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. In fact, Josh shared the following illustration to explain simply good theft versus bad theft: So if you’re not supposed to force yourself to be original all the time, then how do you come up with original ideas in the long run that hook readers to your content and provide new valuable insights in your niche? The answer is, you don’t. Originality is not a result of finding ideas  but connecting dots. Finding ideas stems from your knowledge of the field or subject that you write about. It is a result of theoretical learning but not practical application. Nothing is original. But you can  connect the dots with your own perspective. #bloggingConnecting dots, on the other hand, comes from experience in the field and seeing trends and things happen firsthand. The more you read and experience things, the greater you develop your ability to connect different things and build a new idea out of them (e.g. my comprehensive post on why you  need eye-tracking testing for your website). The core idea might not be original per se,* but how you present it is what makes it original. Blogger extraordinaire Maria Popova of BrainPickings.org sums it up best in her quote: The idea that in order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these pieces and build new castles. Takeaway: Read more and read wide. The more you read, talk to new people or experience new things, the better you’ll become at connecting pieces of information together to spawn an original idea. Bonus Life Tip: You can remember lists of things more easily if you create a story or mental palace around them in your environment. 2. Stop Overanalyzing And Commit To A Decision It’s no secret that in any environment that you reside in, there is an information overload. Starting with unrestricted access to the Internet to  the number of same fruit juices, but  different brand options, at the local grocery mart. So many options and decisions eventually immobilize the brain’s capability to take the effort to stick to a single decision as a result of analysis paralysis. Now as a blogger, I can totally relate to this when you’re stuck between deciding which task to be given more importance. Should I finish that blog post due tomorrow evening? Should I send this week's email newsletter first? Should I set up and A/B test on the new landing page?  The questions are countless, and not to mention that I haven’t yet gotten to the domestic and personal decisions that you have to make which, arguably, might affect your life more seriously. To beat this conundrum, you have to practice to think less and do more. In a recent study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, researchers found that fast learners don’t overthink. And why does this occur? Lead author of the study Danielle Bassett, replies: Sometimes your brain can actually get in the way when the information is actually already in your motor memory. If you stop thinking so hard, then you actually perform better. This is also the reason why children have a higher and faster learning rate because they don't possess the high level cognitive process that adults have. Which means that a child is incapable to overthink and is instead concentrating on quick information intake and its dissemination. Think less and do more. Analysis paralysis is stopping you from reaching your goals. #productivityIn an interview over at Barking Up The Wrong Tree, James Waters, ex Deputy Director of Scheduling at the White House and former NAVY Seal platoon commander reminisces: Wherever possible avoid paralysis by analysis. I think analysis and data are super important. No matter what organization you’re working in you’ve got to get things right and know the data that backs it up. But too many organizations get paralyzed because they analyze for too long and they haven’t developed the instincts to make decisions. They end up postponing things in favor of more and more analysis. That’s frustrating for everyone in the organization. Being able to make decisions when you know you have imperfect data is so critical. But how do you use this knowledge to commit to decisions? Further into his  post, author Eric Barker contacted Duke professor Dan Ariely, writer of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, to ask for his solution on taking critical decisions instantly. Dan advised that in such situations, the best thing is to look at the decision from an â€Å"outsider’s perspective†, in other words, â€Å"What would you do if you made the recommendation for another person?† This works because you give a recommendation dispassionately, minus your current emotional state. The decision in such a case is almost always a better one because we’re taking it from a distance. So the next time you find yourself taking more than a minute to decide which is a better header image for your new post, just take the plunge and move on to the next thing. Takeaway: Do not waste valuable working memory over analyzing decisions or options. Commit to a decision and then later on optimize, if the need arises. Bonus Life Tip: If you don’t overthink about the future, you will get better at everything. 1. Just Smile (To Yourself) Smile to yourself or even to others. I’m not saying you go out of your way to smile at everyone because people, on an average, can easily spot a fake smile. I’m not asking you to smile for or at someone. Think of it on the lines of a holistic approach. Smile generally when you’re listening to a song, or writing, or even while taking a bath. Radio and television writer Andy Rooney  put it eloquently when he said: If you smile when you are alone, then you really mean it. Speaking from personal experience, smiling is the single most effective and powerful tool in my mental inventory to boost my personal  productivity. Smiling  increases  confidence level and helps generate and maintain positive emotions. These positive emotions then have a trickle down effect on your work given that you’ll become more positive about reaching your goals and not stress so much even when things don’t go your way. Research has also shown that smiling can release endorphins (natural pain reliever) and even serotonin (natural antidepressant). Smiling is scientifically proven to increase your #PersonalProductivity. Here's how.It is interesting to note that doctors have proven and recommend that you should strive for a Duchenne smile rather than a fake â€Å"Say Cheese† smile. The former is controlled by the limbic system (emotional center of the brain, hence the smile is triggered by a genuine emotion) and the latter is controlled by the motor cortex (the smile is asymmetrical and fake). But sometimes, if the need arises, even faking a smile can lead to a better mood, lower your heart rate and facilitate faster cardiovascular stress recovery. Even Will Ferrell nailed it as an adorable elf with his viral quote: But I have trouble forcing a real smile! Well luckily, Marcia Purse from About Health, put together an amazing list just to help you smile. It involves: Jump on the bed Make faces at yourself in the mirror Bake cookies Dance Find a playground and swing on the swingset (I find this one wonderful) Look at your baby pictures Hug someone you love Take a walk in the sun- or the rain Watch cartoons you loved as a kid Imitate a celebrity- with exaggeration Visit a pet store Sing a happy song Blow bubbles and watch them (works for me every time) Watch children playing and laughing Eat a bit of your favorite junk food- slowly, savoring it Takeaway: Smiling is the single most powerful exercise you can do anywhere, anytime, and it will positively affect your mental and biophysical functions and increase your personal productivity. Bonus Life Tip: Exercise. It can uplift your mood for up to 12 hours afterwards. Finally, wrapping up with a tl;dr recap Drop  that smartphone. Now. Save time  by automating routine tasks. Visualizing  success is actually counterproductive. Don’t stress over 'originality'. Stop overanalyzing and commit to a  decision. Just smile (to yourself).

INTERNATIONAL_BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

INTERNATIONAL_BUSINESS - Essay Example Companies investing in foreign markets are ultimately inhibited by the underlying antipathy of the local firms and dearth of local traditions and norms awareness thus suffer constraints owing to their alien status. There are already many established foreign firms that have apparently penetrated the market hence will offer ready competition but also provide us with an insight of the market strength. Peng et al (2009) through their integrated global trade model propose two approaches in discerning global industry frameworks. These are the institution-based outlook in which overseas enterprise corporations concentrate on studying the domestic trade situation; and the resource-based outlook whereby the corporation uses its customary competitive advantages like advanced equipment or merchandise to add a toehold in the domestic markets. China as one of the top growth emergent markets offer a vastly developed latent platform for establishing an global market to cater for the many foreign travellers including investors and tourists in addition to the local traders. This will provide the firm a viable entry point into the nascent ASEAN regional market for ABC PLC. According to Porter (2009), a firm’s external competitive advantage is mostly dependent on location of the business. He observes that even with the advent of globalisation the cost of doing business in China has appreciated due to high energy and other logistical expenses. Beizhong (2009) cites three criterion used by firms intending to venture into foreign markets. These include â€Å"the competitive ability in the international market, the competitive advantages and competitive risks† (Pg.2). International development will enhance our hotel chain growth by cushioning the current economic recession in our other ventures with the sustained grow th always prevalent in China. The marketing model to be followed will be as outlined in Bothma (2008)

How do children develop pragmatic and conversation skills and how Essay

How do children develop pragmatic and conversation skills and how might their communication be affected by a disability at this - Essay Example Moreover, it was also observed that children tend to speak differently to their fellow children compared to how they converse with older people. Therefore, pragmatics also became an important aspect in the researches. The above-mentioned studies will be discussed further in this paper including the fact that there are also instances wherein conversation and pragmatic skills are affected by cases of disorders. In the modern world, children with disabilities are increasing. Nevertheless, instead of treating them as invalid, more and more advocates are suggesting that these special people should be treated as normal people who are able to do things just like the others who have no disabilities. Therefore, it is most important to look further into these conditions and consider how their communication skills are affected in order for normal people to adjust to their conditions and understand them, instead of worsening their situations. II. Children Discourse Parents are known to be the fi rst teachers of their children because as expected, they are the very first ones to be dealing with the child at home. They may not often be aware of it, but they are teaching children conversational and pragmatic skills with the way they treat them. ... tion is a dynamic interaction that consists of a source, who has a purpose that is understandable to another person, and an encoder, who is able to understand the meaning of the message† (2003). For instance, when a person asks a child what his father’s name is, he should be able to tell his father’s name and not his own name. In this case, the source is the person asking the question whose purpose is to know the name of the child’s father and the child is known as the encoder. Such skill however, does not automatically occur, but is gained through constant communication with the child, identifying and explaining his relationships with the people and things around him as the child grasps the information. This supports the nature and nurture theories that sought to simplify understanding of how children develop communication skills. Nature theory suggests that â€Å"humans have an inborn mechanism in the brain for mastering language called Language Acquisit ion Device (LAD)† (Santrock, 1988; Santrock, 1995; Schement, 2002; Sigelman & Rider, 2006). This so-called device is the innate factor that enables a child to learn and adjust his language skills as he communicates with the people around him. This is basically what makes a child able to acquire understanding of words, their meanings and uses. Eventually, as the vocabulary of a child increases, he learns how to converse with other people, using the words he acquired in manner that he is understood. Moreover, the conversation skills of a child are improved as he adjusts his understanding of phonology or sound system, semantics or word meanings as well as syntax or form and structure of language through the help of the LAD as his experiences increase (Santrock, 1988; Santrock, 1995; Schement, 2002; Sigelman &